1 204 PANJAB CASTES. \
2 Mahtou of Hushyarpur are of good Rajput blood, though they have lost caste i
3 Ijy talvhig to ploughing and practising widow-marriage, and that their social
4 standing is not much below that of Rajputs. He thinks that the name may i
5 be derived fi-om Mahla, which he says is a title of honour current among the j
6 Rajputs of the hills ; and this agrees with the Montgomery tradition quoted i
7 above. Mr. Anderson also gives the Hushyarpur jMahtons high social stand- j
8 ing. On the other hand, ^Ir. Wilson says that the Labanas of Sirsa would |
9 scout the idea of connection with the Mahtams of the Satluj, whom they con- <
10 sider utterly inferior to themselves. The point needs to be cleared up by ;
11 further enquiry, especially in the districts where the classes come into contact. i
12 Our detailed tables of clans will doubtless throw light on the question. j
13 496. The Sarrara (Caste No. 118). — It is perhaps jirobable that these men !
14 are the same as those discussed under the head " Sarera " in the section on "j
15 Hill IMenials. But I have sejiarated them, as their identity is not at all
16 ceiiain. The Sarriiras wliich are found in Hazara belong to a race inhabiting '
17 Chibhal, or the hill country of Kashmir on the Hazara border, and according '
18 to Jlajor Wace belong to the same ethnic group as the Dhund, Satti, and j
19 Kharriil of the same tract. It might perhaps have Ijeen better to take them j
20 with the Kharrals. They are chiefly found in the Abbottabad tahsil, where
21 they are purely agricultural. They are all Musalman.
22 497. The Ghosi (Caste No. 125).— The Ghosi is I believe an Ahir tribe ; |
23 but in the Panjab the name is only used for Musalmans, and is often applied j
24 to any cowherd or milkman of that religion, whether Gujar, Ahir, or of any i
25 other caste, just as Gwala is used for a Hindu cowherd. The Ghosi proper j
26 is only f'Amd in the eastern districts, though a few have strayed into the large
27 cantonments to the west. But the 335 persons shown as Ghosi in the Rawal- i p. •>,■.
28 pindi division are, according to my papers, entered as Ghasiara or " grass-cutter,"
29 while the rto7 of the Multiln division are shown as Her, probably for Ahir. How
30 these came to be classed as Ghosi I cannot explain. It was not done by my \
31 orders. It is said that Hindus will buy pure milk from the Musalman 1
32 Ghosi, but will reject it if there is any suspicion of its having been |
33 watered jjy the latter, as they must not drink water at his hands ! The j
34 Ghosis are a purely pastoral caste, at any rate in the Panjab. They are I
35 however sometimes butchers. !
36 498. The Gaddi (Caste No. 81).— These figures appear to include two j
37 entirely distinct classes of i^cople. The Musalman Gaddis of Dehli, Karnal, '
38 and Ambiila arc apparently a tribe found in the upper dodb of the Jamna
39 and Ganges, closely resembling the Ghosi, and perhaps like them a sub- •
40 division of the Ahirs. They are called Gadi almost as often as Gaddi. !
41 They are by hereditary occupation milkmen ; but in Karnal, where they
42 are most numerous, they have settled down as cultivators and own several vil- '
43 lages. They are poor husbandmen. And a further confusion may possibly ;
44 have taken place from the fact that a descendant of a Rajput father \
45 by a widow of another caste married by karcwa is called Garra with
46 the hard r. Indeed it is not quite impossiljle that here we may have the con- '
47 necting link between the two classes. At any rate the word Gaddi, as used
48 in the Panjab proper, is applied to the inhabitants of the mountain range bet-
49 ween Kaiigra and Ghamba and of its continuation in the latter State. '
50 The term is commonly applied to almost any inhabitant of that region ; j
51 but the true Gaddis, whom General Cunningham is inclined to identify with ',